Magazine charger with inwardly raised ribs



A ril 24, 1962 J. CURRAN 3,030,724

MAGAZINE CHARGER WITH INWARDLY RAISED RIBS ATTORNEY April 24, 1962 J. CURRAN 3,030,724

MAGAZINE CHARGER WITH INWARDLY RAISED RIBS Filed April 15, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR United States Patent @fitice 3,030,724 Fatented Apr. 24, 1962 3,030,724 MAGAZINE CHARGER WITH HNWARDLY RAISED RIBS James Curran, Cheadle Hulme, England, assignor to Thomas French & Sons Limited, a corporation of Great Britain Filed Apr. 13, 1960, Ser. No. 22,043 Claims priority, application Great Britain Apr. 14, 1959 3 Claims. (Cl. 42-88) This invention relates to chargers for small-arms magazines of the kind (hereinafter termed the kind referred to), comprising a channel-like pressing of spring steel adapted to hold a plurality of small-arms cartridges in a convenient manner for guiding them into the magazine of the small-arm.

Hitherto, such chargers have generally included a steel spring located within the channel by indentations formed in the base thereof, such spring locating the cartridges frictionally, by engaging the base thereof, to retain them in the channel and in their desired relative disposition.

Such construction has the disadvantage that it consists of two separately produced parts, respectively, the body of the charger and the spring, and to avoid this, it has been proposed to slit the sides of the channel to form tongue-like portions which are then bent in over the base so as to be able to grip the sides of the cartridges, such construction being based upon the appreciation that in any case the material of the channel has to be of a grade of metal which would be suitable for that purpose, thus dispensing with the need for a separate spring.

However, conditions of use have shown that control of the cartridge is still required to operate by end engagement therewith, as distinct from gripping the sides of the cartridges and the object of the present inven tion is to enable this to be done whilst still avoiding the necessity for a separate base spring. Also, the invention includes the appreciation that an end-contacting spring, as hitherto made, has an inherently undesirable feature by reason of possible engagement with the percussion cap of the cartridge, either during or after loading of the charger or whilst loading the magazine of a small-arm therefrom.

According to the invention, a charger of the kind referred to is characterised in that the base of the charger is split and displaced inwardly of the channel so as to form cartridge-holding sprung tongues having cartridgeengaging formations off-set from the centre to engage the base of the cartridge clear of the percussion cap.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIG. 1 is a top plan of one example of a magazine charger made in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an end view in the direction of the arrow A of the magazine charger shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal section of the same magazine taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a side elevation;

IG. 5 is an underneath plan of the charger shown in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are perspective views from above and below respectively of the same charger.

As shown in the drawing, the magazine charger consists only of a channel member 10 of generally conventional shape in longitudinal curvature and cross section. Instead of being adapted to locate a spring insert, the base is slit at an angle inwardly and symmetrically firom each corner at 11 so as to form tongues which are inwardly sprung and so that each tongue includes end portions 12a of longitudinal ribs 12, conventionally formed in the base of the charger body. The slits are inclined to an included angle of about 40 degrees and the distance between their inner ends is approximately one-third of the width of the base.

in use, by reason of the location and direction of such slits, the end portions 12a engage the base of the cartridge at each side of the percussion cap with the required amount of pressure, both as the cartridge is inserted or withdrawn and on the end cartridges when charged with the full complement of cartridges so as to hold and position the same therein in the required manner.

I claim:

1. A charger for small arms magazines comprising a channel-like pressing of spring steel having a base and sides adapted to grip the base ends of small arms cartridges for guiding them into the magazine, the base of said channel-like pressing having slits at each end defining a tongue at each end which is displaced from said base to engage resiliently with the base end of any said cartridge in register therewith, said base of the channellike pressing being formed with spaced longitudinal inwardly-raised ribs for respectively engaging the cartridge base at each side of any percussion cap, characterized in that the said slits at each end are straight and inclined symmetrically of the base and inwardly towards each other from the outer end of the pressing and pass respectively through the said raised ribs to leave portions of such ribs on the cartridge-base-engaging portions of said tongues for contact with the cartridge bases at points on each side of any percussion cap.

2. A charger as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that the relative inclination of the slits provides an included angle of about 40 degrees.

3. A charger as claimed in claim 1, further characterized in that the inner ends of the slits are clear of the said inwardly-raised ribs.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 702,882 Parkhurst June 17, 1902 794,680 Parkhurst July 11, 1905 2,659,173 Capito Nov. 17, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 10,630 Switzerland July 8, 1895 552,488 Canada Feb. 4, 1958 

